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In a response to the growth of smartphone and tablet gaming, OUYA is hoping to bring gaming back to your TV. So how are they going to do it? The setup consists of a small cube-shaped console and a wireless controller, but there has been no indication how it will hook up to your TV exactly. What we can expect once it's been booted up is a familiar looking user interface due to the fact that it runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The advantages of running on Google’s open source mobile operating system means users will be able to root the console without worry of voiding the warranty which means with the combination of some pretty impressive hardware the possibilities of customization are seemingly endless.

Specs

Reading like a specs list from a premium Android tablet, the console will be powered by a quadcore Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM which are similar components found in the ASUS Transformer Infinity and the Google Nexus 7. There’s USB 2.0 and a HDMI support to display 1080p HD content, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi connectivity, and the recently announced Ethernet connection which was added as a result of OUYA community feedback. 8GB of flash storage will also be on board to store all of your content.

As for the controller which looks like a combination of the Xbox 360, PS3 and OnLive controller, will work wirelessly and feature a D-Pad, four face buttons, analogue sticks, shoulder buttons and a touchpad for playing touch-based games. Interestingly, the OUYA console will support up to four controllers which should help give it family gaming appeal.

How much will it cost?

So we know that the OUYA console plus a single wireless controller can be pre-ordered with one controller for $109 in the US while for everyone else, the same bundle will cost $119. There is likely to be other more expensive packages if the $225 pledge for a console and two controllers is anything to go by, but we await more concrete pricing details.

Release date

So when will OUYA be available to buy in the UK? Currently functional prototypes have been made and developers are still awaiting the SDK but OUYA claims the first consoles will land in March 2013. Unfortunately, there has been no confirmation of whether this will be a global release, so fingers crossed on that one.